Al Abri, Abdulnasser (2020) War Reporting and the New War Paradigm: a Critical Analysis of the UK Military’S Media Operations Policies
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Al Abri, Abdulnasser (2020) War reporting and the new war paradigm: a critical analysis of the UK military’s media operations policies. PhD thesis. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/78966/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] War Reporting and the New War Paradigm: A Critical Analysis of the UK Military’s Media Operations Policies Abdulnasser Ahmed Abdullah Al-Abri A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Glasgow School of Culture and Creative Arts Centre for Cultural Policy Research January 2020 ©Abdulnasser2020 Abstract The current military-media relationship, in which war reporters face greater challenges accessing operational zones, is marked by destabilisation. The key focus of this thesis is to describe the struggle of the military and the media in a British context, one that involves keeping up with the pace of massive developments in: (a) the nature of warfare, (b) the revolution in military affairs, and (c) information and communications technologies. I argue that the relationship between operational security, digitalisation, and moral obligations is vulnerable in today’s conflicts – considering those aspects of journalistic values which claim truthfulness and objectivity. Grounded theory is used to analyse qualitative semi-structured interviews and official documents by employing comparative methods and coding. Research questions are grouped into three themes outlining my key methodological arguments: (1) a revolution shown in military documents in the forms of new war; (2) the characteristics of war journalism in post-Iraq War; and (3) the impact that the digital revolution has had on the role of war reporters. My findings illustrate some implications and recommendations for military policies and journalistic practices. In theory, the military’s media policy is aimed at securing journalistsʼ safety and operational security. However, in practice, the loss of autonomy, a lack of clear objectives, and editorial restraints have made journalistic work more complicated. The analytical framework utilised has identified two emergent themes: (1) the post-embedding era recognises the struggle of the military to incorporate the media into today’s conflicts because of the extent of violence in the ‘War Amongst the People’ (WAP); and, (2) the classic form of war reportage has become vulnerable to a new type of asymmetric threats as wars are often fought in a hybrid style. The latest typology of ‘new war’ has reinforced a sense of uncertainty and ambiguity in the process of war reportage, and information management, which can create instability pertaining to the role of the media in conflicts. In conclusion, the risk of uncontrollable and unmanageable media reportage can only be eliminated by the military if journalism becomes an integral part of the military’s command and control structure. -2- Table of Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................. 2 LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................................ 5 GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................................................. 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................... 8 AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ........................................................................................................................ 9 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 10 THE NEW WAR PARADIEM ..............................................................................................................................11 WAR JOURNALISM..........................................................................................................................................14 THE MILITARY-MEDIA RELATIONSHIP ..............................................................................................................17 CHANGES IN THE GLOBAL SYSTEM ..................................................................................................................19 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ..................................................................................................................................21 THESIS STRUCTURE ........................................................................................................................................22 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................................23 CHAPTER TWO: ...................................................................................................................................... 25 CONFLICTS, MILITARY DOCTRINES, AND WAR JOURNALISM ............................................................ 25 INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................................25 REPORTING WAR ...........................................................................................................................................26 MEDIA AND STATE ..........................................................................................................................................39 MAKING CONNECTIONS WITH THE NEW WAR PARADIGM ..................................................................................47 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................................53 CHAPTER THREE: ................................................................................................................................... 56 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................... 56 INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................................56 RESEARCH DESIGN .........................................................................................................................................57 DATA COLLECTION .........................................................................................................................................71 DATA ANALYSIS .............................................................................................................................................75 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................................80 CHAPTER FOUR: ..................................................................................................................................... 82 BEYOND A MILITARY MEDIA OPERATIONS DOCTRINE ........................................................................ 82 INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................................82 WAR JOURNALISM IN A CONTESTED MILITARY SPACE ......................................................................................83 INTEGRATION IN THE MILITARY-MEDIA RELATIONSHIP .....................................................................................99 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................... 112 CHAPTER FIVE: ..................................................................................................................................... 114 WAR JOURNALISM IN THE POST-IRAQ WAR ...................................................................................... 114 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................... 114 EMBEDDED SYSTEM ..................................................................................................................................... 116 THE POST-EMBEDDED ERA: WAR, TERROR, AND JOURNALISM .................................................................... 129 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................... 143 CHAPTER SIX: ....................................................................................................................................... 145 THE ECOLOGY OF WAR JOURNALISM IN THE DIGITAL AGE: INFORMATION AS A WEAPON ....... 145 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................................